Alan Parker's delightful
The Commitments, based on the first book in a trilogy by author
Roddy Doyle, is a remarkable movie, easily one of the best films released in
1991. There are dozens of reasons why this simple little tale of the rise
and fall of a Dublin soul band manages to endear itself so breezily
and effortlessly onto its fans. It could be the extensive and
enjoyable music, the intimacy of the production, the veritas of its stark tone
and gritty, realistic setting, or its lighthearted charm and abundance of
sweet-natured (if unapologetically profanity-laced) comedy. Perhaps
over-analysis does the film disfavor, because when you boil it down to its basic
elements, The Commitments
works because it is simply just a damn good movie.

With pristine clarity, most
people who become would-be musicians/singers/garage-band devotees remember
the exact moment when they decided to chase their musical endeavors with
unabashed, carefree abandon. For many, it's one eminently catchy song that sets
them on their way. For others, it's the extroverted desire to perform; to
unleash their creative energies and performance chops upon a receptive
audience. And then there's that large proportion of guys who are
doing it mostly to chase tail. Not that there's anything wrong with
that...

But for Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert
Arkins), an optimistic, unemployed working-class Dubliner whose mundane
existence seems to be surrounded by a world with consistently deep gray
skies and muddy streets, the prospect of starting a band is driven by a desire
to escape the colorless ordinary, to be a step above the rest of the "tossers."
Much to the skepticism of his Elvis-worshipping father (beautifully played by
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Colm Meaney), Jimmy begins to
assemble his band member by member. As manager of the group (newly christened
"The Commitments"), Jimmy pulls together a mighty fine rhythm section: the band
swells its rank to ten members of various musical talents. However, Jimmy has
one stipulation: The Commitmentsare going to play nothing but
soul. As he put it:

Soul is the music people understand.
Sure it's basic and it's simple but it's something else because it's honest,
that's it. It sticks its neck out and says it straight from the heart. Sure
there's a lot of different music you can get off on but soul is more than that.
It grabs you by the bollocks and lifts you above the shite.

And so, The Commitments
pull ahead with their dream to become the biggest, baddest soul band in Dublin.
In the midst of their ranks are the various personalities which either make a
band great or doom it to oblivion. Of course, Jimmy is the manager with the
vision, but we also have Joey 'The Lips' Fagan (Johnny Murphy), an elder
trumpeter who not only claims to have performed alongside the legends of rock
and soul, but spends most of his time seducing the young ladies of the band: the
pampered and gorgeous Angeline (Imelda Quirke), the hardworking, baby-raising
Bernie (Bronagh Gallagher), and the immensely talented Natalie (Maria Doyle). We
have the vulgar, self-obsessed lead singer Deco (Andrew Strong), whose vile
personal habits and odious personality mask a powerfully amazing voice, the
constantly harassed and put-upon drummer Billy (Dick Massey), the only
occasionally electrocuted bassist Derek (Kenneth McCluskey), the sax-playing
Dean (Felim Gormley) who finds his jazz-leaning aspirations more
satisfying than a rhythm role in the brass section, and the psychotic,
annihilate-first-ask-questions-later Mickah (Dave Finnegan), the band's bouncer
and eventual drummer. With that amount of talent and egocentrism going on,
The Commitments often find themselves on the precipice, tottering
between success and dissolution.

The tale of The Commitments
is a fairly straightforward one, but the movie is exceptional in its
storytelling. Director Alan Parker, who is clearly one of the most brilliant and
underrated talents in the business, has always excelled in the fields of
both intimate storytelling and musicals. Parker's gritty, hard-hitting and
bleakly humorous stylings have added depth and potency to such films as
Midnight Express, Birdy, Angel Heart, Mississippi
Burning and the criminally overlooked Angela's Ashes. His ability
to craftily integrate music with narrative (Parker is a master of the montage)
has resulted in such beloved and renown films as Fame, Pink Floyd
The Wall, and the brilliant Evita. With The Commitments,
Parker has possibly crafted the quintessential "Alan Parker" film. The movie
contains all of his flourishes and stylistic cues, while all the time simply
telling an entertaining story with believable, relatable characters.
And I haven't even begun to discuss the music,
a host of soul/R&B covers that are too infectious to even begin to describe.

While the movie wasn't a
breakaway hit in North America, its art-house success and positive word-of-mouth
led to two soundtrack albums, various premieres around the country, and a
network television special. A sequel was even discussed, but eventually put by
the wayside. This is, perhaps, a very good thing. The Commitments is
lightning in a bottle, a simple tale that eschews high concept for genuine
entertainment.

The DVD

Fox has released The Commitments on
DVD in a two-disc special edition.

Video:

The Commitments is (finally!) presented in its
original widescreen theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and the video has been
anamorphically enhanced for your widescreen-viewing pleasure. This is a great
looking transfer throughout. I was especially impressed by its effective use of
colors and contrasts. Alan Parker enjoys drenching his films in the types of
shadows, gritty textures, and an overall earthy tone that tend to make many
transfers appear murky and lifeless. This definitely isn't the case for The
Commitments; the prevailing "grittiness" is wonderfully complemented by
vibrant splashes of color, deep earth tones, strong black levels, and warm,
natural flesh tones. Contrast levels are beautifully rendered, adding more depth
and vibrancy to the image. Sharpness is pleasing, with only a handful of scenes
demonstrating softness and exhibiting only a moderate degree of fine detail. The
transfer was struck from an extremely clean print, resulting in a video
presentation that lacks dirt, debris, or wear. There is no noticeable
compression noise, pixellation, edge-enhancement, or haloing.

Audio:

I was so
overjoyed that The Commitments was finally released in its original
aspect ratio that I was completely unprepared for the joyous six-channel audio
mix included on this DVD (there are also French and Spanish channels, both in
Dolby Digital 2.0). The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack gives the presentation an
expansive, engaging presence, especially in a movie that hinges so much upon
both its music and its dialog. Dialog and vocal levels are bright, loud, and
clean without seeming distorted, overbearing, or clipped. The soundtrack makes
extended use of the expanded soundstage, with appropriate and sometimes
aggressive utilization of the surrounds that engagingly highlights background
and ambient noise, while also lending the musical presentation the right amount
of potency. Frontstage spatiality is broad and enveloping, and LFE activity adds
the entire affair the right amount of thundering bass.

Extras:

Disc One contains a
feature-length audio commentary with director Alan Parker.
Parker's delivery is slightly dry and monotone, and his commentary does contain
some gaps, but overall he provides a host of interesting, behind-the-scenes
information. His affection towards the film is very apparent, and fans of the
film will quite enjoy it.

Disc Two
contains the bulk of the supplements. First out of the gate is
The Making of Alan Parker's Film: The Commitments, a twenty-two
minute "behind-the-scenes" featurette that was filmed during the production of
The Commitments. Most of the cast and crew, including Alan Parker and
author Roddy Doyle, are interviewed throughout the piece, and presents a
reasonably informative look at the creation of the film.

Bookending that feature is "The Commitments":
Looking Back, an forty-seven minute retrospective that reunites the
cast and crew, as they offer their thoughts on the making of the film. Most
of the band as well as various members of the production crew are given the
opportunity to reflect upon their experience with The Commitments. The
documentary features a number of entertaining and often humorous takes on the
project – the entire section devoted to Irish profanity is brilliant – and it
feels a little exhausting in its running length, it still remains grandly
entertaining.

Dublin Soul: The
Working Class and Changing Face of Dublin runs for fifteen
minutes, and provides a fascinating look into the social development and class
strata of Dublin over the decades. The filmmakers used many of the working-class
neighborhoods extensively throughout the film, giving the movie an extra level
of depth and realism.

The aptly-titled
Making-Of Featurette runs eight-minutes in length, and seems to
be little more than a truncated and slightly edited version of the earlier, more
substantive twenty-two minute feature. Rounding out the supplements is the
"Treat Her Right" music video (with an introduction by Alan
Parker and Robert Arkins), two Original Songs by Cast Members
(We May Be Down (But We're Not Out) by Andrew Strong and Taking On
The World by Robert Arkins), the film's theatrical
trailer, six TV spots, four radio
spots, and a still gallery consisting of nineteen
photographs.

Final Thoughts

If you're already a fan of The
Commitments, then you don't need conversion, as you are already aware
of what a wonderful film it is. If you are a neophyte, with this DVD you can
definitively find out what the entire buzz is about. In either case, after years
of marred, fullframe releases, we can finally enjoy the film in its original
widescreen aspect ratio. The presentation of the film cannot be faulted: both
the audio and the video are beautifully delivered. However, it's the wealth of
supplemental material that elevates this set. Between the commentary, over an
hour and a half of documentaries, trailers, TV and radio spots, and more, this
is an exhaustive set that will satiate the ravenous hunger of any
Commitments fan. It's been thirteen years, but at long last Fox has
delivered The Commitments done right.